Nile Cruise and Cairo

Arrival in Luxor and overnight stay on the boat

Wake-up call at 5 and departure for the Valley of the Kings, visit to some tombs, continuing on to the Valley of the Queens. The temple of Queen Hatshepsut is majestic, with its imposing staircase and colossal statues. A stop at the Colossi of Memnon and then off to the temple of Luxor where magnificence takes shape, and so does the 30° temperature. We continue to the temple of Karnak and here the columns have very well-preserved bas-reliefs. Under military escort heading to Esna and passing through the lock; boat trip toward Edfu. It's our 25th wedding anniversary, caught up in the whirlwind of events we forgot about it.

Wake-up call at 6, to be the first at the temple of Edfu. Sailing toward Kom Ombo and visit. In the evening an Egyptian costume party.

We sleep until 6:45, then the unfinished obelisk of Aswan, then the Great Dam that created Lake Nasser and here it's cold, a strong wind is blowing. We take a boat and reach the island of Philae for the temple visit. Afternoon at the organic garden and the Nubian village. Sailing along the cataract, we get off and Nasser (our legendary guide) takes us up a hill, the panorama is indescribable.

It's the big day: wake-up call at 2 in the morning. Departure for Abu Simbel where we arrive at 6:30, we seek shelter from the cold inside the temples. Flight to Cairo, before lunch (and we're all already exhausted) visit to the mosque, arrival at the hotel at 18:00, one hour of time and then dinner, and then Sound and Light at the Pyramids. We lose a few travel companions, the youngest ones fell asleep during that single hour of rest and missed everything, dinner and show. Egypt wins the Africa Cup and our bus joins the celebrations

Today we sleep in, wake-up call at 7. Essential visit to the Egyptian Museum, lunch on the river, in the afternoon visit to the mosques, the Coptic Christian church and the Jewish synagogue, then off through the mazes of the Khan-el-Khalil market. In the evening a tour of Cairo, city of the dead, gardens....

Day of the pyramids. We start with the classic ones, Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos where there's still no one, it's practically dawn. In the afternoon the step pyramid of Sakkara, Memphis with the statue of Ramses and the alabaster sphinx, then the pyramids of Dashur, in the middle of the desert, very evocative especially because of the nothing that surrounds them

Wake-up call at 5 (but if we think in Italian time it's 4), we're going home. I hadn't prepared for this trip, I hadn't read brochures or brought guidebooks, I left everything to chance, I received more than I expected.